Uber and Ola, the biggest two cab aggregators in the country, have emerged as a threat to black-and-yellow taxis and auto-rickshaws and are under increased scrutiny.

Uber and Ola, the biggest two cab aggregators in the country, have emerged as a threat to black-and-yellow taxis and auto-rickshaws and are under increased scrutiny.

NEW DELHI: States will get to decide whether cabs operated by ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Ola should mandatorily use digital meters to calculate fares, an official from the ministry of road transport and highways said. ET had reported on Saturday that the government had asked Uber and Ola to use taxi meters to determine fares instead of relying on GPS. “Since transport is a concurrent subject, we have left it to the states to decide.

The ministry is in favour of all solutions that facilitate commuters,” the official told ET. The ministry official said there were several suggestions on transport reforms and policy for aggregators and one of them was to make digital meters mandatory.

“It was brought to our notice that there were variations in GPS readings, depending on mobile data availability and strength,” the official said.

Uber and Ola, the biggest two cab aggregators in the country, have emerged as a threat to black-and-yellow taxis and auto-rickshaws and are under increased scrutiny from authorities over aspects such as pricing and passenger safety.

Last week, road transport minister Nitin Gadkari told the Rajya Sabha that his ministry was working on comprehensive guidelines to bring taxi aggregators under greater regulatory supervision and legislation would be introduced soon to cover such companies.

Karnataka notified rules for cab aggregators in April. The Karnataka On-Demand Transportation Technology Aggregators Rules, 2016, make it mandatory for cabs to operate with digital meters capable of printing receipts.

In New Delhi, a cab cannot be registered with the regional transport office unless it has a digital meter installed. However, Uber and Ola continue to use GPS. ET had reported that the ministry was of the view that taxi aggregators were violating the law by measuring distance travelled through GPS.

A group of state transport ministers constituted by the Union transport ministry earlier this year recommended that aggregators should follow the rules related to fares, fuel and safety as mandated by the transport department and there should be a cap on fares.

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